The end of each year takes away with itself all the negative aspects of it and makes way for the positive hope of the New Year. And Hong Kong sure has a great way of not only celebrating this but also conveying the same through the very popular Spring Lantern Festival of the country. The HK Lantern Festival 2024 is quite unique in its own way, as people not only celebrate the coming of a new year but also bid a grand farewell to the departing year.
Spring Lantern Festival- Farewell to the Year Gone By
Celebrated in the middle of the first month of the lunisolar year, the Chinese Lantern Festival is celebrated to mark the end of another year and welcome the coming year with open arms. Also known as the Yuen Siu festival, Hong Kong celebrates the lanterns festival with every bit of grandeur that is hard to find in any other part of the globe. The festival is often considered as being one with the lantern festival celebrated in Malaysia and Singapore in the middle of autumn.
The traditional way of celebrating the HK lantern festival was pretty simplistic. Only the rich and the kingly could afford ornate lanterns, with the rest doing with simple paper ones. Papers lanterns with riddle are quite popular with the children even now, with them trying to solve the riddles. The Chinese lantern festival has a symbolic significance as well. Along with bidding adieu to the past year, the people also bid adieu to their past life.
You are literally going to see red if you are going to witness the lantern festival of Hong Kong this year due to the fact that a majority of the lanterns are red in color as the population believes that the red color is a harbinger of fortune. The main celebration takes place in Tsim Sha Tsui at the Hong Kong Cultural Central Piazza, which is open to every free of cost by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the country. The theme of the lantern festival changes with each year, with the lanterns adopting the shape of the animal of which the year is going to be or any other symbol that the Chinese find auspicious.
One could also consider witnessing the lantern exhibition organized by the LCSD at the HK Cultural Centre. Running for about a month, the exhibition is a sight to behold with lanterns of every size, shape, form and color imaginable. The lantern carnival is another attraction of the lantern festival and is held in the same place as the exhibition. The carnival includes everything from folk songs and dances to acrobatic shows and instrumental performances.
Hotels on Spring Lantern Festival
The Spring Lantern Festival of Hong Kong officially comes to an end with the Chinese New Year celebrations. Hence, it is a very obvious thing that people will be tempted to stay throughout the Chinese New Year as well. It is, therefore, prudent to arrange for accommodation well beforehand so that you can enjoy the festival to the hilt. There are a number of hotels and other places of accommodation that can completely fit your budget bill and looking at the time and kind of the festival, you are sure to come across some very good offers and meal options.